Alternatives to PublishAmerica

[James D. Macdonald]

Alternatives to PublishAmerica:

Commercial publication

AW in general
Learn Writing with Uncle Jim
How Real Publishing Works

The publisher pays you a substantial amount in advance, and ensures that your book is widely shelved in physical bookstores without your intervention.

Self-publication

POD, Self-Publication and E-Publication

If you're going to do all the work anyway, you might as well control all the aspects of your publication and reap all the rewards (if any).

See also: Lulu.com, CreateSpace, CafePress.

Vanity publication

The Bewares and Background Check forum

In my opinion vanity publication is always a bad choice, but some writers may choose to follow this route.

Even though vanity publication costs a fair amount up-front, the long-term costs are often lower than PublishAmerica's long-term costs to the author, the per-unit price to customers is lower (removing a major bar to sales), and the contract is less onerous (Seven years? I ask you!)

See, for example, AuthorHouse, Tate, Infiniti, and other vanity presses.

Again, I don't recommend any of them. See Yog's Law: Money flows toward the author. Collorary: The only place an author signs a check is on the back.

Bottom line: PublishAmerica is a vanity press. Know and understand this on the way in the door. Before choosing to go with PA, check other, more honest, vanity presses.

Learn how to write

General forums

E.G. Novels, Poetry, Short Fiction, Young Adult

Genre Specific

E.G. Mainstream/Contemporary/Literary, Religious and Spiritual, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Share Your Work

The various passwords are prominently displayed in the individual forums' descriptions.

It doesn't matter what you choose to do. If you can't write, you won't sell. Readers don't give a fig about "giving writers a chance."

Get an Agent

Ask the Agent

Also numerous other places here at AW (and elsewhere). The basic rule: A useful agent has sold books that you've heard of. No agent worth talking to charges anything up front, or sends you to someone else who charges anything up front.

Be aware that not everyone can be a professional writer any more than everyone can be a professional football player. Take enjoyment in the writing itself.

[James D. Macdonald]

Get in contact with other writers. Check out local workshops, conventions, and conferences. Local libraries, bookstores, and colleges are good places to inquire about them.


Check out professional groups.

Mystery Writers of America
Horror Writers Association
Romance Writers of America
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
The Authors Guild
National Writers Union
...and others.

[James D. Macdonald]

The advice that I keep giving people is this: Write a new, different, and better book. Go to the bookstore. Find books on the shelves that are similar to yours. Find out who published them. Get those publishers' guidelines and follow them to the letter. If the publisher says "no unagented manuscripts" get an agent. Find out who agented those books you saw. Get those agents' guidelines and follow them to the letter.

And while all this is going on, write a new, different, and better book.

[DaveKuzminski]

Then again, you've been stating this all along. Wouldn't surprise me to find it posted hundreds of times in many of the topics across this forum.

Well done, Jim.

[James D. Macdonald]

Many more useful links here.

[Dick Stodghill]

Excellent advice. Glad to see it posted.

[Dick Stodghill]

IF YOU ARE FED UP WITH PUBLISHAMERICA, WHAT NEXT? Try to get your rights back? Let it ride, forget about it and concentrate on writing something new? Tell the world you’re heartbroken and never write another word?
If you are a writer or have what it takes to be a writer, quitting isn’t an option. Rejection and disappointment are an everyday part of the business.
Remember this is about you. It isn’t about PA, it isn’t about friends, family or people on a message board, it’s all about you. You must first decide what is best for you and no one else.
Here are a few points to consider:
YOU GET YOUR RIGHTS BACK, THEN WHAT? The book has been published. It’s all over the internet so you can’t keep that a secret. That means no one else will be interested in publishing it. Your options are few. You can stick the manuscript in a desk drawer and forget it. You can cannibalize it and use the basic elements to write an entirely new book.
But what if it was to be the first book in a series? You can start it again from a fresh viewpoint. It has been done many times before by writers who experiment until they find the characters and format they want to use for the long haul.
YOU CAN CHALK IT UP TO EXPERIENCE. For some people, just letting the contract run its course is the preferred option. What’s best for you and no one else? Will you be better off with the book out there even if it goes nowhere or is one of the above courses best for you? Whatever decision you arrive at will have no affect whatsoever on PublishAmerica. You may come up with a different course of action than those listed. Whatever you decide, never forget it’s all about you. Please yourself, not anyone else.

[merrihiatt]

Originally Posted by Dick Stodghill

IF YOU ARE FED UP WITH PUBLISHAMERICA, WHAT NEXT? Try to get your rights back? Let it ride, forget about it and concentrate on writing something new? Tell the world you’re heartbroken and never write another word?
If you are a writer or have what it takes to be a writer, quitting isn’t an option. Rejection and disappointment are an everyday part of the business.
Remember this is about you. It isn’t about PA, it isn’t about friends, family or people on a message board, it’s all about you. You must first decide what is best for you and no one else.
Here are a few points to consider:
YOU GET YOUR RIGHTS BACK, THEN WHAT? The book has been published. It’s all over the internet so you can’t keep that a secret. That means no one else will be interested in publishing it. Your options are few. You can stick the manuscript in a desk drawer and forget it. You can cannibalize it and use the basic elements to write an entirely new book.
But what if it was to be the first book in a series? You can start it again from a fresh viewpoint. It has been done many times before by writers who experiment until they find the characters and format they want to use for the long haul.
YOU CAN CHALK IT UP TO EXPERIENCE. For some people, just letting the contract run its course is the preferred option. What’s best for you and no one else? Will you be better off with the book out there even if it goes nowhere or is one of the above courses best for you? Whatever decision you arrive at will have no affect whatsoever on PublishAmerica. You may come up with a different course of action than those listed. Whatever you decide, never forget it’s all about you. Please yourself, not anyone else.

Well said, Dick. I would also add, keep writing! I think it's easy for an author to hit a bump in the road and spend so much time in regret that they stop writing. Keep writing! Most writers improve the more they write, your next book will be even better.

[cdoctor13]

My first novel was vanity published, much to my embarrassment. But hey, live and learn and Dick's right: I'll cannibalize it someday.

[writergirlindistress]

Ok,
Some info about me...

I have been writing for 25 years plus. I had my first two poems published in my local newspaper when I was 5.
Since then I have published poetry in anthologies, starting in elementary school, all through high school, and since.
I have also published magazine articles, or in my case short stories in mags such as Hustler...
Then to go on to e-sites such as tit-elation.com (now I wonder, is this considered publishing, even though it was an e-site, they published hard copies?)

I found PA, and was elated. I thought, here was my chance to get the crap I write read. (Yeah, some of it is crap. Very dirty crap, that only men would read, if of course they did that kind of stuff... LOL)

I thought that PA had everything I wanted in a publisher. Especially credit! LMAO!!! My bad. I was so excited that they were going to publish my book. I started marketing long before the damn thing was published.

Though I am very proud of the poetry within the pages of the book, the book is pure crap!!!
Let me tell you how stupid I was...
I signed a second contract.
OMG, what was I thinking?

Now, I wonder, since I have been "published" with PA, do I even put them on my resume?

Thanks

[DeadlyAccurate]

Originally Posted by writergirlindistress

Now, I wonder, since I have been "published" with PA, do I even put them on my resume?

No. You shouldn't lie if asked, but you shouldn't list it as a writing credit either, because it's not.

[James D. Macdonald]

tit-elation.com seems to be out of business. Were they a paying market? When they vanished, what happened to the rights to your work?

Have the rights to those short stories in Hustler reverted to you?

Reprints are tough to market, but worth pursuing. Also: It was my impression that the 'Net has kicked the crap out of the male-oriented professional written porn market. You may need to find a new genre. Have you considered Romantica?

[writergirlindistress]

Originally Posted by James D. Macdonald

tit-elation.com seems to be out of business. Were they a paying market? When they vanished, what happened to the rights to your work?

Have the rights to those short stories in Hustler reverted to you?

Reprints are tough to market, but worth pursuing. Also: It was my impression that the 'Net has kicked the crap out of the male-oriented professional written porn market. You may need to find a new genre. Have you considered Romantica?

Yes, they were a paying market! They vanished, because the woman who started it passed away last year, and no one wanted to keep it up! how sad for me, because the woman was one dear person.

When they vanished, the rights came back to me. All rights when published in Hustler stayed mine. So, in fact, with all of my adult lit. I have all rights to those works.

As far as porn... That genre, isn't my only one. I do actually a lot in Romantica, but again, that isn't my only genre either.

[Don Schaeffer]

Everybody agrees. That can't be good.

[Don Schaeffer]

With all the negative gefuffle about bad publishers, I wonder if i could get a list of publishers you guys are currently using. It would be very useful.

[DeadlyAccurate]

The thing with commercial publication is, you don't "use" a publisher like a for-pay service. They buy rights to publish your work, and they usually pay an advance against any royalties the book might earn you. As such, because they're fronting all the costs of publication (and that's far beyond just the physical printing of the book), they're selective in their purchases.

If you're looking into a self-publishing service, I'll leave the answer to someone with more experience. I'd probably just go with Lulu or CreateSpace if I wanted something printed.

[James D. Macdonald]

I wonder if i could get a list of publishers you guys are currently using

Go to Amazon. Search on my name. Or check my webpage (link to the left). Or go up to the AW Library.

Or, if you want a list of non-vanity publishers, go to a bookstore. Look around.

[callalily61]

Originally Posted by DeadlyAccurate

The thing with commercial publication is, you don't "use" a publisher like a for-pay service. They buy rights to publish your work, and they usually pay an advance against any royalties the book might earn you. As such, because they're fronting all the costs of publication (and that's far beyond just the physical printing of the book), they're selective in their purchases.

If you're looking into a self-publishing service, I'll leave the answer to someone with more experience. I'd probably just go with Lulu or CreateSpace if I wanted something printed.

You said that better than I was trying to.

[Toothpaste]

Don - if you visit the AW library towards the top of the forum you can see who some of our publishers are, they vary between small presses and the big houses, as well as self publishing.

Also don't forget, this section (Bewares and Background Check) is about looking into publishers/agents to make sure they aren't scams before submitting to them. This is the section of "negative gefuffle" as you call it. That's it's purpose. However you'll also find threads in this section that are positive, where someone asks after a publisher and gets, "Oh yeah, they're small but awesome" responses.

But think about it, is someone really going to come into this section and ask "Is Random House any good?" We all know the big legit publishers, there's no need to ask about them. And so smaller publishers get discussed, many of which have no track record or are pay to play outfits, so yes, this section leans towards the negative, but only because people are asking about lesser known operations.

Also, I would try to change your outlook of this part of the forum. All you see is negativity because people here are saying negative things about a certain publisher/agent. But it is actually a positive place helping authors not be scammed. It isn't a place that is trying to put down agents/publishers just for fun, but rather a place to protect our own. (and the only agents/publishers who get put down are those that deserve to be put down in the first place, so it isn't like they don't deserve it anyway)

[Marie Pacha]

Don, my publisher does not accept poetry. I'm afraid their name wouldn't help you much.

[DaveKuzminski]

Originally Posted by Don Schaeffer

With all the negative gefuffle about bad publishers, I wonder if i could get a list of publishers you guys are currently using. It would be very useful.

Contrary to what is said about bookstores over at the PA forum, bookstores are your best resource for publishers who do not charge writers for publication. This is because the publishers whose books are most often featured on bookstore shelves are the kind that do not charge writers and they are typically known as commercial, trade, or commercial trade publishers. It is true that not all commercially produced books get into bookstores but they stand a greater chance than other types.

The kind that typically do not get featured on bookstore shelves are usually the kind that target authors as their market and are known as vanity publishers which also includes many subsidy publishers or are self-published. In rare instances these get onto the shelves because the author is local to the store's area. These are the kinds where the costs are borne by the authors to produce and the editorial standards in the majority tend to be lacking because they don't have qualified editors on hand.

Now since PA books do not get into stores, it stands to reason that the big reason why is because it is a vanity publisher which was testified to under oath by a PA owner in an arbitration hearing and has little to no editorial standards. It is not because of the lack of space which is the reason that would apply to a commercially produced book and the one often falsely claimed by PA as to why their products are not in bookstores.

So if you want the names of the best free publishing companies, then walk into a bookstore and write down the publishing company names on the spines of books with similar content to what you've written. Just remember that most of them have high standards because they're risking their money on your work. If they accept you, it means you're truly a writer worth reading.

[PVish]

Originally Posted by Don Schaeffer

With all the negative gefuffle about bad publishers, I wonder if i could get a list of publishers you guys are currently using. It would be very useful.

2010 Writers Market will help. You can find a copy in most book stores. Your library might have a copy, too. Maybe not the 2010 edition, but an older one that can give you an idea.

[Don Schaeffer]

Thanks guys

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Best of luck Don It's not a fun process, but rewarding when perseverence pays off.

[BenPanced]

Originally Posted by PVish

2010 Writers Market will help. You can find a copy in most book stores. Your library might have a copy, too. Maybe not the 2010 edition, but an older one that can give you an idea.

Heck, they even have a separate Poet's Market. Worth a look, maybe.